Friday, April 26, 2013

About a month ago I turned a cute little antique bench into a container garden. It was pretty popular and I had requests for a few more. I happened to have another little table so I transformed it as well.

Then I had a problem because I still had someone who wanted one, but I didn't have any more tables. So, I was looking around my shop and saw these two drawers I had stashed away from a previous dresser that I had turned into a media cabinet. I thought--Hey, that'll work! :)

I enlisted the help of my handy man (again!) and he helped my vision become reality (again!).

Thanks honey! :)

I had a few of these ?? that someone dropped off for me a long time ago. I've been saving them as I knew they would come in handy some day! ;) We (uh hum...he) cut them down to the length I wanted them--pretty easy peasy. I was fortunate they had the square ends on them to make attaching them to the drawers easier.

Here's one of the drawers. Um, yeah, it wasn't lookin' too great.

We reinforced the bottom of the drawer with a piece of plywood cut to the size of the drawer and then I lined the inside with this plastic tray so when the pots were watered the water wouldn't be sitting on the drawer bottoms.

Then we cut the holes with a 4" hole saw in another piece of plywood for the top. Fortunately, I had all these materials around already, but I know you can buy similar shaped legs at Home Depot, and you could use whatever wood you had lying around (most people have a stash somewhere!).

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And, here they are all put together and made pretty!

I love how they turned out--even more than the tables I think.

I've been wanting to use yellow knobs on something and these were just perfect. They remind me of the sun (which we have seen far too little of here in WI!).

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

I've never really put too much stock into the saying, "Too much of a good thing." Probably because I've never had to (except for when I occasionally gorge eat a little too much at my favorite Mexican restaurant).

My mom recently told me that someone had once said to never turn a hobby into a business. When I saw my first furniture blog I was inspired and knew this is what Heavenly Father wanted me to do at this time in my life.

I did it because it made me happy.

I did it because it relieved stress.

I did it because it made me feel good about myself.

I love the feeling of a brush in my hand and the feeling of transforming something unwanted into something beautiful again (I have a thing for the ugly duckling!).

Because of the wonderful support and enthusiasm you all have shown this "business" of mine has been keeping me very busy! I love helping others love their furniture again and seeing the excitement when wonderful ladies (and a few gentlemen) walk into my shop and see their finished piece. But, it has also taken over a good share of my time and has become stressful (only because I am a HUGE type A personality! Perfectionism anyone? Control freak anyone?). Well, I've had too much of a good thing for right now!

I am going to take a little break in May (partly because I am switching shops and partly because I need to for me). I hope those of you that follow along don't abandon me! :)

I have done so many custom orders in the last month that I chose to do this buffet (I told you I have a thing for them!) how I wanted without worrying if it was going to sell or not! It was so liberating!

Sorry, I made you read this dissertation to get to the pictures, but I just thought I needed to do a little e'splanin. ;)

Before

The lady who was selling this is moving to Hawaii (poor gal), so had to get rid of almost everything she had. She was very motivated (wink, wink).

This was a custom color I had my local Sherwin Williams mix for me. It really does pay to be friends with your local paint guy/gal (mainly because you can stand over their shoulder while they are mixing and tell them more of this or more of that!).

After

Such sweet little knobs.

I decided to leave the legs wood to compliment the top and I'm so glad I did! They are so gorgeous in Dark Walnut! :)

This is the color it really is. And, I am totally swooning over these details!

I thought about peeling this veneer, but decided to leave it. I love how crackly it looks-it compliments this piece so well!

About Me

I love working with my hands--gardening, painting, scrapbooking, wood working....creating. A very wise man said creating is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul--LOVE that!! There is just something about transforming old into new, and I'm happiest when I am doing just that. I love when someone in my family says, "What are you doing now?!"